I just think that every country in the world now needs to have its veterinary services on high alert for H5N1, to try to make sure that they don't get caught unawares and find that it gets into their poultry populations without knowing.

The last thing I want is to be truly alarmist. But the world is not really ready to deal with an avian pandemic.

It simply is telling us that the virus may be changing the way it interacts with humans. It does not tell us that the risk of a mutation that causes the pandemic is increasing or decreasing.

It may be more important to concentrate on the essentials of life for those who are living than it is to focus on the treatment of those who are sick.

It is quite feasible that H5N1 could mutate. The fact that it has taken some years should not lead you to believe that we are through the worst.

There is too much H5N1 virus in very close contact with humans in this region. We need, in a painstaking and careful way, to reduce the opportunities for this virus to be jumping across into the human population. That will in turn reduce the likelihood of a major pandemic.

There will be an influenza pandemic sometime, but we don't know when. It could be mild, it could be severe, it could be extremely severe.

That outbreak was noted by the villagers, but was not handled because they didn't report it in time. We have to work harder on helping to convert knowledge into practice.

And then there will be an interval of perhaps six months until we have a reasonable quantity of vaccine.

The money is only the beginning. The process of preparing is going to require very careful monitoring and review, and that's the work ahead.